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And with the Beast from the East, comes freezing temperatures and thick snow to much of the country.

Jeff Knight, Met Office manager of modelling climate variability said: "There is a very high likelihood of a ‘Sudden Stratospheric Warming’ around the end of the year, increasing the chances of colder-than-average weather in January and the rest of winter.

"We will keep looking at forecasts to know exactly when any potential cold, snowy spells will occur."

Essex is in for a mild few days, with temperatures on Sunday forecast to reach highs of 11C.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day could see highs of around 9C, but temperatures will begin to drop after that.

By Friday, January 4, high temperatures could only reach 4C, and lows could hit -1C - but there's currently no snow forecast for the region.